Event Partnerships

Setting animals up for success means doing events differently:

Due to evolving best-practices and changes in the composition of animals in need of adoption, LHS is no longer accepting requests for external adoption events or animal appearances.

Oh no! Does this mean LHS is no longer doing events? Can I still adopt?

Of course you can still adopt! Our staff will be happy to help you through the process and arrange for you to meet your potential pet in an environment that is beneficial to you both. For many shelter dogs and cats, being around crowds or other animals at events or festivals is extremely stressful, and the animals are not often able to relax enough so as to show their behaviors or personalities. We have found that off-site adoption events result in fewer actual adoptions than other forms of animal marketing or advertising, and present an increased risk for those animals in our care who are most in need. Instead of focusing on events that feature animals for adoption, LHS will now be using our time and energy to better engage the public in our efforts to help community animals through programs and services.

With this in mind, we have now have changed how we evaluate requests for event attendance to focus on better addressing community needs. These goals are:  

1. To engage with communities where animal services and information is scarce or difficult to access, or where data shows that animal challenges are significant. Animal and vet services should not be scarce or hard to obtain at an affordable price and LHS wants to aid in making that care more accessible to all.

2. To recruit more individuals and families willing and able to provide temporary housing and care to dogs and cats who cannot live with other pets, or who need special medical care. Animals, like people, come with their own dislikes, personalities and needs. Approximately 60% of the shelter dogs LHS takes in have characteristics that need to be managed as part of a behavior and training program. An increasing number of cats and dogs are entering the shelter with medical issues or injuries. There is nearly always a need for foster homes for very young kittens. An animal who needs a little more attention or support can still make a great pet, and we need help finding people able and willing to support them until adoption.

3. To engage with individuals and donors interested in supporting broader animal welfare policy issues, such as access to veterinary care, and human support services. There’s more to LHS than adoptions. At our core we focus on the animal-human bond and want to create a community of support for both pets and people. This means being aware of laws, policies, and practices that have an impact on how we live with animals, and sharing key developments with our stakeholders (you!).

If you think your community event will be a great fit for LHS, please fill out an ‘Community Event Form’ here.

LHS’s capacity for event attendance is very limited, and we look for partnerships that create the most impact. If you are making a request for LHS to appear at your event, please be explicit in how that appearance will help LHS meet one or more of the above goals.